Composer Ned Rorem is nearly as famous for his literary output, including a number of diaries, memoirs, and critical essays. Other than the publication of his letters exchanged with Paul Bowles, this is his first collection of the vast correspondence he shared with a sublime mix of 20th-century musicians and other figures, including Leontyne Price, Virgil Thompson, Reynolds Price, Angela Lansbury, Claus Von Bülow, Lou Harrison, Edward Albee, Judy Collins, Frank O'Hara, Alfred Kinsey, Gore Vidal, and Cynthia Ozick. If his diaries are documents of self-examination, his letters may be read as texts of self-invention, as he traces the long arc of his creative life.